1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to an improved data processing system and in particular to an improved method and system for controlling and manipulating the display of multiple applications within a data processing system. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a graphic method and system for manipulating and accessing the display of multiple applications which are displayed in overlapping windows within a data processing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent data processing systems include operating systems which allow users to simultaneously access, display and manipulate data from a variety of related and/or unrelated computer application programs. While only one application is in fact active at any one time, the user interface of such modern operating systems presents multiple applications to the user via a display. Activity relating to each application is typically displayed in a viewport or "window." Depending upon their number and size, these windows may overlap each other either partially or completely and may obscure various applications in that manner. This is known as the "messy desk" scenario. The user may, at his or her own option, work with data in any of the open windows by altering which window contains the active work area. Examples of windowing programs include Windows.TM. published by Microsoft Corporation and DeskQView.TM. published by QuarterDeck Office Systems. Both of these windowing systems will operate on the International Business Machines Corporation Personal System 2 (PS/2) series of personal computers.
There are, however, certain inherent problems in most such windowing systems. In order to access the application or data which a user desires to manipulate, the user must activate the window which contains the desired application or data. In a "messy desk" scenario, it often takes a substantial amount of time to sort through the various windows to reach the appropriate application. In this process, the user must move and/or minimize multiple windows, thereby affecting the hierarchical integrity of the desktop. After such rearrangement of the windows, the hierarchical arrangement of the applications within the system may have been radically altered. Also, the user faces a loss of time due to the number of keystrokes necessary simply to obtain a visual image of the ultimate object data and due to the time necessary for the system to respond to the different commands entered by the user. Furthermore, the user's job is made even more difficult due to the necessity of remembering a multiplicity of different interface and access procedures for different application programs and for different levels within the same application program.
Certain application programs have attempted to solve these problems but have generally done so at the expense of various desirable features. For example, the HyperCard program of Apple Computer, discussed at length in The Complete Hypercard Handbook by Denny Goodman, Bantam Books 1987, provides a simple means for avoiding a predetermined organization scheme when accessing object data, allowing direct linking and various disparate types of data at the user's command via activation of a "button." Although this program provides a uniform, simple and relatively swift method of interfacing between different types of data which may be stored in completely different formats, it suffers from an inability to display more than one type of object data at a time on the display screen and from a requirement for an enormous amount of resident memory and static storage capacity to function properly. Moreover, this program is designed to be a tool kit enabling users to design their own permanent links between data, thereby creating new applications, rather than a program for providing swift access to levels of data within other pre-existing application programs which are not otherwise interconnected.
Another approach known in the art is a utility program published by SoftLogic Solutions as SoftCarousel. This program permits up to ten different application programs or data files to be loaded and allows a user to move from one application to another with a single keystroke. The utility requires configuration by the user and is not a universal solution for the problem.
More recently, U.S. Pat. No. 5,050,105 discloses a direct cursor-controlled access technique whereby multiple application programs and data may be accessed by a user. This patent discloses a so-called "exploding" cursor function which permits a plurality of windows to be linked in an arbitrary sequence to form a chain when the exploding cursor function has been activated and the sequential displaying of each of those windows in response to user inputs utilizing the exploding cursor.
Upon reference to the foregoing those skilled in the art will appreciate that a graphic method and system for accessing multiple applications which are displayed within multiple overlapping windows would be highly desirable.